BRASILIA,
August
12,
2004
(LifeSiteNews.com)
-
The
Brazilian
government
is
planning
to
distribute
three
billion
free
condoms
per
year
in
an
effort
to
stem
the
country's
skyrocketing
HIV
infection
rate.
Experts
have
warned
that
condoms
are
in
no
way
a
reliable
method
for
preventing
the
spread
of
HIV.
The
availability
of
condoms
statistically
increases
promiscuity
and
risk
of
contracting
HIV
according
to
medical
experts
who
presented
their
findings
on
the
HIV
Pandemic
in
Washington,
DC
in
January.

Dr.
Norman
Hearst
of
the
University
of
California
-
San
Francisco,
for
example,
reported
on
statistics
from
Kenya,
Botswana,
and
other
countries,
which
showed
an
increasingly
alarming
pattern
of
increased
condom
sale
correlation
with
rising
HIV
prevalence
by
year.
Unfortunately,
Hearst
stated,
we
are
"raising
a
generation
of
young
people
in
Africa
that
believe
that
condoms
will
prevent
HIV."
This
is
concerning
because
condoms
are
not
100%
effective,
even
when
used
properly.
According
to
Hearst,
"the
most
recent
Met-analysis
came
up
with
80%,
but
even
if
it
is
90%,
over
time
it's
the
question
of
when,
not
if."

Also,
Edward
C.
Green,
a
senior
research
scientist
at
the
Harvard
School
of
Public
Health,
told
the
Boston
Globe
that
the
United
Nations
finding
of
a
one
in
ten
failure
rate
of
condoms
protection
from
AIDS
is
"not
good
enough
for
a
fatal
disease.
The
way
condoms
are
marketed
in
Africa
and
other
developing
parts
of
the
world
is
as
if
they
were
100
percent
safe,"
he
warned.
"Condoms
have
brand
names
like
Shield
and
Protector
that
gives
the
impression
that
they
are
100
percent
safe."

Authorities
from
Brazil's
Roman
Catholic
Church
--
in
the
world's
most
Catholic
country
--
warn
that
free
condoms
will
only
encourage
greater
levels
of
promiscuity.

Brazil
has
600,000
suspected
and
200,000
known
HIV-infected
individuals.
Three
billion
condoms
works
out
to
35
condoms
for
each
of
the
85
million
citizens
per
year.